Impact of war still misunderstood

Opinion: U.S. still makes some mistakes from Vietnam War

Forty years after our withdrawal from a disastrous war in Vietnam, the U.S. learned lessons from some of its mistakes and applied them to future military planning and decisions. Unfortunately I don't view many of them as positive applications of the knowledge gained.

Eliminating the draft after Vietnam and using a basically all-volunteer military has significantly increased the professionalism and efficiency of our armed forces while also effectively lowering negative public sentiment about our loved ones and family members being unwillingly exposed to serious injury or death in the service of their country.

The U.S. avoided major boots-on-the-ground involvements by supporting military interests in Latin America and other nations through clandestine operations and undercover funding. The cost of involvement in a country with little or no strategic or economic value like Vietnam taught the U.S. to be more selective about where and how to use its full military force.

Pressured by military-industrial and business influences, the government used one of the lessons learned from the Vietnam experience: not to engage in any action without overwhelming force, to ensure quick initial military success in Panama, Afghanistan and twice in wars with Iraq.

In a recent PBS interview, retired Gen. Wesley Clark summed up his dismay with the greatest Vietnam mistake made that we did not learn from: "Don't get involved in something you don't have a plan in place to get out of." We cannot basically unilaterally invade potentially unstable countries and expect worldwide support to maintain stability after a sweeping military success.

Our government seems to have learned how to be much better at waging war but has made little progress in understanding or considering the cultural impact of those actions on the lives of the people in the countries or how to maintain a stable peace following it.